31/03/03

Prime TV (NZ) installed a UHF transmitter locally last week, nice pic at my place even on rabbit ears next to the pc, but all weekend the pic was breaking up and a Sky decoder rainfade message was on screen. Seems whatever size dish they put up for the link to take the signal off of Sky NZ was way to small! I estimate they would need about a 2.4M to cope with the winter weather conditions that the site receives. It doesn't help that Primes signal is on one of Skys weaker transponders.

Apna FM is up and running on Sky NZ B1, 12671V Apid 661 Sid 1109 (channel 109)

Also new on the same transponder is "Coming soon" Vpid 512 Apid 650 Sid 1090 (To be channel 90??) (this one might be Skys Rural channel?)

Satfacts updated

From my Emails & ICQ

From Chris

Hi all, Syd Mor Her last Sat had a very interesting article on impacttv,

Business section.

Regards Chris

(Craigs comment, anyone have a copy of this??? or any info that they can send me about this?)

From Bill Richards

Optus B3 156E 12336 V Sr 30000, FEC 2/3 , Apid 562 SID18 Unkown new radio service has started "RNW3"

JcSat2A 154E 3916 V "BYU" change of S/R 3703, FEC 3/4

Regards
Bill

From the Dish

Intelsat 701 180E 3794 R "TV Globo Internacional" has started , PowerVu, SR 6108, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.

PAS 8 166E 3860 H "CTS" has left again, replaced by a test card.

Optus A3 164E 12501 H "TRT International, BVN TV, SET Asia, TRT FM and Voice of Turkey" have started, Fta, SR 30789, FEC 3/4, SIDs 1-6, PIDs 257/258,521/649, 1260/1220, 4353 and 4609.

Agila 2 146E 4080 H "WCPI" has started regular transmissions, Fta SR 2165, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.

Telkom 1 108E Updates in TelkomVision, Irdeto 2: MATV has replaced Star World on 3460 H, PIDs 464/465.TV 7 (Indonesia) and Arirang TV World have replaced National Geographic Channel Asia and Channel V International on 3580 H, PIDs 148/145 and 272/273.

Asiasat 2 100.5E 3769 H Occasional feeds, SR 1500, FEC 7/8.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 4064 H and 4078 H "SpeedCast" has started, SR 7500, FEC 7/8.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 4087 H "SpeedCast" has left

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3418 V FEC for ATN Bangla: 2/3.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3441 V FEC for Channel Nepal on : 2/3.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H The RR Sat promo has left .
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3626 V "Nepal 1" has started, Fta, SR 15556, FEC 3/4, PIDs 512/640,Asian beam
Thaicom 2 78.5E 3970 H "MCOT Thai TV 9 and MCOT FM 100.5" have left (PAL).

Apstar 2R 76.5E 3780 V "TV Malagasy and Radio Madagascar" have started on , SECAM, 5.80and 7.80 MHz.

Satellite Launches

Launch window for Asiasat 4 with Atlas on 11 April: 00:09-01:21 UTC.

NEWS

France Seeks Global Reach Via New TV News Channel

From http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2459844

PARIS (Reuters) - While the world watches the Iraq war on U.S., British and Arabic satellite television, France has stepped up plans for an international TV news channel that would offer an alternative vision of world affairs in the years ahead.

France, which led the opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, has asked media groups to present by April 22 proposals for what is described as a "CNN a la francaise."

"It seems necessary, given the long international crisis that is beginning," said Dominique Baudis, head of the state broadcasting supervisory body, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) this week.

"What we're aiming for is a channel that would give a French and European view of things," said Jean-Paul Cluzel, chairman of the state-owned Radio France Internationale (RFI), which is working with state-owned France Television on a proposal.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin spelled out the broad lines in a document sent to media groups last week.

The idea is to have the channel up and running next year and beaming into homes, hotels and media newsrooms much like U.S-owned CNN, Britain's BBC World and more recently Qatar's Arabic language al-Jazeera.

President Jacques Chirac mentioned the idea in his reelection campaign last year, without offering any deadline, and a parliamentary committee was originally asked to produce a report on it by mid-May.

POWER OVER PROFIT?

So far, the project is very much about politics and world influence, and not about making money.

Media groups such as the privately owned LCI TV news channel, which caters to a mostly domestic audience, are eager to join a project targeting viewers worldwide but aware of the limits of the French language and the costs of such a station.

"LCI already exists and therefore it can be used as a basis for the famous CNN a la Francaise very quickly," said Laetitia De Luca, head of communications at LCI, a 10-year-old, news-only subsidiary of television company TF1 .

"There is no international advertising market and to create such a channel would cost a lot of money. So the government will have to dig into its pockets," she added.

At public and private media groups, executives are keeping their cards close to their chests on the finer details of the proposals they hope to finalize in the next month.

Cluzel at RFI said it was plausible to start up an international news venture in French but survival in the longer term would require branching out into English and Arabic at least.

He estimated that the channel could operate at a cost of around 30 million to 35 million euros a year, a bill that would rise with the introduction of broadcasts in other languages.

Cluzel had no comment on the possibility of a public-private venture with LCI and highlighted that it would take years to build up a channel of the fame enjoyed by CNN, BBC World or al-Jazeera.

MAKING A NAME

CNN, launched in 1980 and owned by AOL Time Warner, made its name in the first Gulf war in 1991. It says it now reaches more than 81 million households in the United States and 161 million households internationally.

BBC World has been on the air since the early 1990s.

Launched in 1996, al-Jazeera has taken the Arab world by storm and made its name in the Afghan war with exclusive footage of Osama bin Laden. The Arabic television network is estimated to count more than 35 million viewers now.

In the French planning, another player seen as key is news agency Agence France Presse (AFP), which along with RFI has an extensive network beyond French borders.

AFP said it only wants to be involved as a service provider on a commercial basis, providing text, audio and video footage to the future news channel for a fee but not changing anything else in the agency's core activities and structure.

"AFP wants to be a partner through provision of services but not the pilot," said Yves de Saint-Jacob, multimedia development director at AFP.

Stephen Hess, an expert on media and world influence at the Brookings Institute in Washington, said the French project was an understandable desire in the current international climate.

"In these times it's politically desirable but it's probably not economically viable," he said, adding that it would need to be funded extensively by the state to stay in operation. (additional reporting Antonina Vorobyova, Paul Carrell and Merissa Marr)

This week it’ll be raining news on TV in India

From http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_223370,0008.htm

Big wars make for big news. So perhaps this is a good time to launch a news channel. But even so, Indian viewers are likely to be shocked and awed by the plethora of news channels that will rain down from the skies this week.

Sahara Samay, the first of seven proposed news channels from the Sahara group, is already on the air. Star News becomes an all-Hindi channel run by Star itself from Monday. At exactly the same time, existing content provider NDTV plans to launch not just one, but two news channels in Hindi and in English. And though it is cagey about the exact launch date, Aaj Tak is expected to unveil its English channel later next week.

There are already Zee News and Aaj Tak on the air, so Indian viewers will get an unprecedented seven 24-hour news channels.

Most hyped have been the NDTV and Star channels. Star hopes to get the big audience numbers with its Hindi programming and with cross-channel promotion on the massively successful Star Plus. Its channel is expected to be less political in tone — it is the only one to be headquartered in Mumbai not Delhi and slightly tabloidesque in character.

NDTV's English channel will be called 24x7 and will feature the familiar Star News faces (Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt, etc.), plus the recently unfamiliar Prannoy Roy who will actually bother to host programmes for his own channel. The Hindi channel will be called India, will feature a new team and has theme music by A.R. Rahman.

Aaj Tak English is expected to begin with a headline news format (reflected in the name of the channel) and hopes to replicate the enormous success of Aaj Tak Hindi (the country's top news channel) by using the same editorial team headed by Uday Shankar.

So far, Sahara Samay has met with a positive response. But it is early days yet and the battle has only just begun.

Sahara Samay National, Uttar Pradesh to launch on 28 March

From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/mar/mar148.htm

MUMBAI: The stage is set for the launch of Sahara Samay. Starting 28 March, 'Sahara Samay National' Hindi news channel and 'Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh', the city-centric satellite news channel, will broadcast their fare seven days a week - 24 hours a day.

Sahara India Pariwar's broadcasting arm had announced its ambitious plans to launch a slew of of television news channels some time ago. Sporting the new true blue patriotic logo's on the screen, the test run of the first two Sahara Samay news channels to be launched has been on air for the last two weeks.

While ace television personality Vinod Dua, who had been associated with Sahara TV since its inception, is an advisor to the whole project, other important cogs in the team include Sahara Samay National news channel head Arup Ghosh; Sahara Samay city-centric regional news channels for UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan head Prabhat Dabral; Delhi & NCR channels head Shireen; and Mumbai channel (covering Maharashtra & Gujarat) head Rajiv Bajaj.

An official release says that the besides the rest of the news channels in the bouquet, Sahara's media initiatives also include television, print and satellite radio channels.

While the Sahara Samay National will cover the news nationwide, Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh - a city-centric regional news channel will cover news from six cities namely Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Agra, Gorakhpur and Dehradun. Meanwhile, Sahara's media and entertainment head Sumit Roy announced: "Other city-centric channels will be launched in the next four months to cover all 31 cities as planned."

All Sahara news channels are free-to-air digital satellite channels. The release claims that the news channels employ advanced automated electronic news production and state-of- the-art transmission technology.

According to the release, the Sahara Samay news channels will offer in-depth news coverage from far and wide with a team of over 1000 journalists using 50 main news bureaus which will be further connected with the 1600 V-SAT centers for news gathering across the country. In addition to a fleet of 18 OB Vans, DSNG vans and fly-aways to offer quick on-the-spot live coverage, the channels have also employed a round-the-clock helicopter team round-the-clock for special aerial coverage.

Pay channels in a fix, govt says go ad-free

From http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/highlights/newsdetail.php?filename=news27032003111946.htm

The I&B Ministry has told pay channels to become ad-free from July 14, when the set-top box becomes mandatory. The channels will have to decide on their source of revenue - subscription or advertsing.

The Information and Broadcasting, I&B, Ministry has told the satellite channels that if they want to remain pay channels after July 14, they will have to decide on their source of revenue - subscription or advertising. Pay channels, the ministry insists, will have to be ad-free. They cannot earn money through both subscription and advertising, it says.

Reacting to this, a Zee TV official told CNBC India, "We have to decide on two to three options. We have sufficient time. And we have to read the fine print."

The ministry has pointed out that this is the practice in the US and other developed countries. The ministry is making set-top boxes mandatory for receiving pay channels from July 14, and wants the channels to take a commercial break. This would enable viewers to watch the programmes on television without commercials aired during frequent breaks.

In India, most satellite channels earn money through subscription and advertisement revenues. The ministry, keen on pushing the Western logic, has reportedly got an assurance from the Advertising Standard Council of India. As of now, the ad-spend on television channels, is roughly around Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) annually.

New Punjabi TV channel from May

From http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030328/punjab1.htm#17

A Canadian broadcasting company run by two Punjabi NRI brothers has decided to launch a new Punjabi satellite TV channel from Punjab for Punjabi viewers across the globe by the end of May this year.

Talking to TNS, Mr Ravinder Singh Pannu, president and chief executive officer of Pannu Broadcasting Inc., running Sur Sagar TV and Radio channels from Toronto, Canada, revealed that the new channel, NRI TV, would be launched by the end of May.

Having its headquarters at Ludhiana, the broadcasting company planned to set up its studios at Chandigarh, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, he said.

With uplinking facilities from Noida, the company decided to set up the studios with latest technology available in the world to ensure better visual and audio quality. He said all cameras and other equipment required for studios and launch of the channel were being purchased from Canada.

It may be mentioned that Pannu Broadcasting Inc. first started its TV programme for east Indians on City TV, Toronto, in 1986. In 1992, the company started broadcasting TV programmes in coastal areas all over Canada.

T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 13/2003 30 March 2003 -

A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by TELE-satellite International

Editor: Branislav Pekic
Edited Apsattv.com Edition

A S I A

AUSTRALIA

VOTE ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP DELAYED

The Australian government has abandoned a plan to put its contentious media ownership legislation to a Senate vote this week. Under pressure from the Senate's four key independent lawmakers, Communications Minister Richard Alston chose on March 26 to postpone further debate until June. In the interim, Alston will continue talks with the independents, whose votes are crucial if the minister's proposed dismantling of local cross-media and foreign ownership restrictions is to become a reality. Alston's backdown comes after one of the Senate independents, Meg Lees, warned the government's haste in calling a vote on media ownership would likely bring about the bill's failure. The coalition government wants to modernize Australia's 15-year-old media ownership regime, and has the general backing of industry players. But the conservative government lacks a majority in the Senate, requiring an extra four votes to pass legislation. Under the current rules, a television licensee cannot own more than 15% of a newspaper in its licence area and vice-versa, and foreign companies cannot own more than 15% of a TV station or 25% of a major newspaper.

REGIONAL DIGITAL TV PLANNED

The digital television network could be extended to more regional areas under Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) proposals. The ABA released proposals to allot and assign digital channels for television repeater services at 16 locations. This means digital television could extend to inland NSW, regional Queensland and Tasmania. The ABA also said it identified as yet unassigned channels to be used for other purposes, such as datacasting. And it released a draft variation for Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Central Coast of NSW to vary channel allotments for digital repeater services.

CHINA - HONG KONG

MTV LAUNCHES CABLE MUSIC CHANNEL

MTV Networks said on March 26 it will launch a 24-hour music cable channel in China's southern province of Guangdong. The channel, due to begin broadcasting within days, would reach an estimated one million households in Guangdong, one of China's richest provinces, The distribution deal was signed with Guangdong Cable Networks, the major cable player in the province. MTV has piped the network via satellite to a limited audience of luxury hotels and residences catering to foreigners and has also syndicated hourly blocks to stations in about 45 cities and regions, reaching a potential 60 million households. AOL Time Warner's CETV, News Corp's Star TV and Phoenix Satellite TV - 38 percent owned by News Corp - have rights to broadcast via cable operators in Guangdong. MTV has been in China for eight years. It produces a number of shows for MTV China, has hosted awards ceremonies and sponsored Chinese musicians performing abroad.

PROFITS FLAT AT TVB

Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts said on March 26 its 2002 net profit was virtually unchanged on year despite declines in its advertising income in the city, due to stringent cost controls and growth in operations abroad. The dominant free-to-air TV broadcaster reported a net profit of HK$589.9 million for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, up 0.1% from HK$589.4 million a year earlier. Its 2002 bottom line was restated from HK$596 million to reflect adjustments in its accounting policies. Revenue fell 3% on year to HK$3.16 billion. Revenue from its terrestrial TV broadcasting operation, the bulk of which comes from advertising, fell 12% to HK$1.78 billion. TVB said Galaxy will launch a 24-channel service in late 2003, containing five core channels carrying TVB's Chinese language programs. It said the service will be expanded to 40 channels within 18 months of the launch. Also, TVB said its new production and administrative headquarters will require a cash expenditure of HK$500 million in 2003.

CCTV CARRIES CNN PROGRAMMING

China's state television broke with its traditional foreign news coverage on the first day of the war by carrying CNN International's live reports from Iraq while providing simultaneous translation. In addition to its own reporting and analysis, China Central Television broke into CNN coverage on three channels, its international CCTV-1, domestic CCTV-4 and English-language CCTV-9, beginning with President Bush's live speech. CCTV is one of 900 radio and television broadcasters in which CNN has reciprocal agreements, including 67 in the Asia-Pacific region, which typically allows each to air the other's news coverage. CNN is typically seen on the mainland only in residential compounds where foreigners are allowed to live and hotels rated three stars and above. Currently operating 12 channels with a potential audience of 1.1 billion, CCTV has been a member of the ABU since 1973.

INDIA

STAR, ZEE AND CNBC TO REDUCE FOREIGN STAKE

Several television news channels including Star, Zee and CNBC said they would cut the foreign investment to 26 per cent per cent to comply with new uplinking policy, guidelines for which were announced on March 26. Star News President Ravina Raj Kohli said in a statement “we welcome the guidelines and will comply with them. Star News will undergo seamless transition to a 24-hour Hindi news service from March 31, 2003 onwards, when the contract with our current content supplier comes to an end”. As per the guidelines, while Star - which is wholly foreign owned - and CNBC India each gets three months’ time to comply with the foreign investment cap, channels like Zee already uplinking from India have been allowed up to one year to almost halve its existing foreign equity. Earlier, Zee News chief Laxmi Goel told PTI “The Indian stake in Zee Telefilms now stands at about 48 per cent. We will bring down the foreign stake in this company to 26 per cent within the next one year”. Speaking from Mumbai, CNBC India’s Chief Executive Officer Haresh Chawla said “we will work towards complying with the guidelines”. In CNBC India, while Raghav Behl’s TV 18 holds 49 per cent equity, the majority 51 per cent is held by CNBC Asia. As per the guidelines, any channel applying for uplinking news be registered in India, majority of board of directors, its CEO and those exercising editorial control must be resident Indians.

STAR INTERESTED IN NEWS CHANNEL

News Corp.-backed Star TV is planning to reapply for a license to a broadcast a news channel in India. The company's first attempt was scrapped when the government introduced regulations limiting foreign ownership of channels to 26%. Star, which has already set up much of the infrastructure for the planned channel, will reapply with a local partner to meet the equity restrictions.

SCOPUS WINS DOORDARSHAN CONTRACT

Scopus Network Technologies reported on March 27 that Doordarshan, India's national television service, has selected Scopus digital broadcast platforms to further upgrade its digital broadcast infrastructure. Scopus' digital broadcast platforms are being used to expand an existing nationwide terrestrial transmission system. During the first half of 2003, Scopus will supply over 1,000 IRD-2800 professional Integrated Receiver Decoders to Doordarshan for operation at hundreds of reception sites throughout India.

PAKISTAN

CABLE TV LICENSES TO BE ISSUED

Pakistan is set to license domestic cable TV broadcasters, a move that could bring all-news stations and homegrown soap operas to as many as 10 million viewers in the South Asian nation. Pakistan's government plans this month to approve licenses for as many as seven new channels, some of which already broadcast from offshore, said Mian Muhammad Javed, chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority. Cable providers already offer their 10 million subscribers some local programming and 50 international channels, including CNN, BBC World, Al-Jazeera and StarWorld. Pakistan Television's three domestic stations have a combined reach of 50 million viewers. Two offshore broadcasters - U.K.-based ARY Digital and Hong Kong-based Indus Television owned by the Shaheen Foundation, a group of retired Pakistan Air Force officers - broadcast to Pakistan cable providers under an ordinance passed by the military government on March 1, 2002. Four of the other would-be broadcasters applying for licenses are based in Lahore: Virtual University, Mashriq Television Ltd., International Marketing & Trading Ltd. and Tele World Top End Ltd. The fifth applicant, AVT Prime Ltd., is in the country's capital, Islamabad.

THAILAND

MCOT SEEKS TO BECOME REGIONAL HUB

The head of the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) has set an ambitious goal to turn the state enterprise into a major broadcaster in the Asia-Pacific region. "Thailand is the hub of the region because of its geographic location," director-general Mingkwan Sangsuwan said on March 23, adding that MCOT would soon invest in new infrastructure and technology to better compete with Singapore and Hong Kong. Channel 9 and the Thai News Agency are the agency's key businesses, while at the same time it handles Channel 3, the United Broadcasting Corp and 62 radio stations. Mingkwan did not give an exact time frame for the planned transition. Since Mingkwan took office in July last year, he has radically shifted the focus of the once-dormant organisation to pave its way to become a major regional broadcaster. He is currently looking at increasing the agency's efficiency by amalgamating overlapping units and setting up new departments to launch planned projects. Channel 9 has already implemented its first phase by updating its 20-year-old logo and boosting airtime for news programmes by more than 150 per cent over the last year. It plans to add entertainment programmes - the third phase of its improvement - on April 1, while the final phase will be completed by year's end. Mingkwan's plan is already showing dividends: Channel 9's profit surged 29 per cent after the first phase was implemented. He claimed that Channel 9's profits would increase by 50 per cent following the second-phase implementation.

PROFIT BOOST FOR CHANNEL 5

Royal Thai Army Radio and Television, operator of TV Channel 5, on March 26 reported a dramatic 67 per cent jump in net profit to Bt480 million for 2002. The strong performance was credited to its aggressive business strategy, in particular the restructuring of its business arms. The company said it generated revenue of Bt1.2 billion. Lt-General Thira Boonpitak, director of TV Channel 5, said the decision to increase the military's shareholding in TMB would depend on the Bank of Thailand, TMB, and the military. Currently, the Royal Thai Army holds a stake in TMB via TV 5 Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Channel 5. This year, Thira said he expects the television operation to post Bt600 million in net profit from Bt1.2 billion in revenues. TV Channel 5 surprised the television industry by regrouping its subsidiaries with the announcement of new TV programmes.

28/03/03

Sorry no update today, in fact I might even take a break and have the site updated on Monday

27/03/03

Solar outages are affecting some people around this time of the year so don't panic if you lose your signals for a short while.

Med TV on B3 Globecast Encrypting April 2nd?

From my Emails & ICQ

From Wmeng

Hi Craigs,

For Chinese Iraq War Update pls refer to

PAS 8 (166E) 3836V 13240 -3/4 - CCTV 4 & CCTV 9 (Translate from CNN news)
PAS 8 (166E) 3860H 28000-5/6 - CTI TV (Translate From CNN and AL -Jazeera TV)
PAS 8 (166E) 3836V 22000-3/4 - TVBS Newsnet USA ( Translate from CNN news)
ASIASAT 3S (105.5E) 4000H 26350 - Phonix news & Phoenix Chinese (translate from FOX News)

regards
wmeng

From Siam Global

AT AROUND 1800 HRS GMT WEDNESDAY IRAQI TV RESTARTED ON THE FRENCH BOUQUET ON INTELSAT 704 66 DEGREES EAST AFTER BEING KNOCKED OFF THE AIR BY U.S CRUISE MISSILE STRIKES ON BAGHDAD BROADCASTING CENTRE .

PRESUMABLY IT WILL STAY UNTIL THE U.S FINDS THE FEED AND BOMB IT AGAIN.

ESSENTIAL VIEWING FOR THOSE WISHING TO GET BOTH SIDES OF THE PROPAGANDA WAR....IF ONE CAN PUT UP WITH THE IRAQI MUSIC WHICH OCCUPIES 80-90 PERCENT OF THE TRANSMISSION TIME !

SIAMGLOBAL BKK

From ANON

Hi Ya

I too was curious about the "Roof top Dish" that Austar claimed would make for increase in subscribers.
Sent an enquiry to ASX to see what they could find out

- here is the reply.

Dear Anon....,

Thank you for your e-mail to our Surveillance unit which has been passed on to me for response.

I have contacted the company clarify the statement made by John Porter, CEO of Austar United Communications Limited, and it is evident that the quote in the Herald Sun is a misquote. The information should read that there is to a new satellite being launched which will increase the range or 'footprint' of the broadcast - i.e. there will be no requirement nor are there any plans
to redeploy new satellite dishes.

If you wish to seek further clarification on this nspecific issue, I suggest you contact Austar directly. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,
Stephen Yan

(Craigs comment, it makes more sense now)

From the Dish

Optus A3 164E 12340 V "Win TV West" has started, Fta, SR 30000, FEC 2/3, PIDs 1236/1537.(This satellite is inclined please send me a report if you manage to recieve it)

Optus B1 160E 12574 H "Mix 106.3" is back on , Fta, SR 1851, FEC 3/4, APID 1063.

Optus B3 156E 12501 H "FX Australia" has left .

Asiasat 3 105.5E 3920 H The info card has left (NTSC).

Asiasat 2 100.5E 4087 H "SpeedCast" has started , SR 7500, FEC 7/8.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H The God Channel India has replaced TCT , Fta, PIDs 769/770.

PAS 10 68.5E 4184 H The Verestar mux has left .

Intelsat 704 66E 3805 R "Sky News" has left .

Intelsat 902 62E 4180 L A British Telecom test card has started, Fta, SR 31532,FEC 2/3, PIDs 514/670.

NEWS

Bombing 'blacks out Iraqi TV'

From http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/26/1048653742434.html

Iraqi state television and another channel run by President Saddam Hussein's son were knocked off the air this evening by coalition air raids on Baghdad, TV sources told AFP.

Iraqi satellite television was still broadcasting normally, while state television came back on air after a 45 minute blackout.

The latest raids came around 0815 Wednesday AEDT on Tuesday, and air raid sirens did not sound.

State television as well as the youth channel run by Saddam's elder son Uday went off the air after AFP reporters in the capital heard explosions from the raids.

Earlier in the day, US General Stanley McChrystal said coalition forces would continue striking at symbols of Saddam Hussein's regime, including the Republic Guard forces headed by Saddam's son, Qussay.

APTN brings war into Chinese drawing rooms

From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/mar/mar135.htm

LONDON: Associated Press Television News (APTN), the world's leading television news agency, made broadcast history when it helped bring live coverage of the war in Iraq to the Chinese state television, China Central Television (CCTV).

CCTV is one of 40 broadcasters which has signed up to APTN Direct - a new service which delivers two satellite channels of live, war-related coverage to it existing subscribers.

When war broke out, CCTV broke into scheduled programming, using APTN coverage from Baghdad and also live coverage of war planes taking off from the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf. "China watchers say it is the first time they can remember CCTV breaking into scheduled programming for an international news event. It is certainly the first time they have run live pictures from an American warship in action," said Nigel Baker, APTN's Director of Content.

APTN used a videophone with a gyroscopic antenna to deliver live pictures from the USS Constellation. The live video was used by broadcasters worldwide. APTN was also the first organisation to broadcast live pictures of Umm Qasr, in southern Iraq, using a specially-equipped desert friendly vehicle fitted with a customised light-weight satellite uplink. A similar vehicle was also used to deliver live coverage of the bombing of Mosul in northern Iraq.

APTN made a multi-million dollar investment in technology and satellite capacity to deliver the APTN Direct service, which allows broadcasters to access live material of the war - including pictures from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf. The 40 customers were signed in the two weeks before war broke out.

Said Baker: "This must be the fastest roll-out of a news agency service and demonstrates the intense international interest in live news coverage." APTN currently has 120 staff and 14 uplinks deployed in the Middle East. It is also the only international organisation providing transmission facilities for broadcasters - remaining in Baghdad since the conflict started.

APTN Direct was launched on 14 March 2003, and is available to customers of its main channel - known as the Global Video Wire.

Murdoch sparks TV rights stoush

From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6185249%255E7582,00.html

LACHLAN Murdoch is not afraid of inciting debate, and his recent comments on anti-siphoning at the pay-TV industry conference have unleashed a firestorm of argument.

Murdoch, the chairman of News Limited, which owns The Australian and 25 per cent of pay-TV group Foxtel, told the conference that reform of the anti-siphoning system was the next great regulatory hurdle facing pay TV.

"Anti-siphoning" refers to the legislative regime that lists 40 sports which are to remain on free-to-air television rather than go to pay TV.

But Murdoch's attack on the system, which Foxtel claims is the most onerous in the world, has attracted a swift response from the free-to-airs.

Seven's broadcast chief Maureen Plavsic launched a defence of the regime earlier this month, then last week Ten's TV chief John McAlpine jumped into the fray. He told a business lunch Murdoch's assertions had been discredited, "but pay continues to assert it as fact".

The dissension is due to differing views from the free and pay-TV sectors on how much of the sport on the anti-siphoning list is actually shown on free TV.

Murdoch told the pay-TV conference free TV does not broadcast 85 per cent of the sport on the list. "And 75 per cent of the hours are never shown at all – live delayed or even in a highlights package. It's as astonishing as it is indefensible – a disservice to sports fans and sporting codes across the country," he said.

But the free-to-air TV industry group, Commercial Television Australia (CTVA), says in 2000 free TV broadcast 72 per cent of all sports on the list, not including delisted events or highlights packages. (Pay TV says its figures have been audited by Ernst & Young, while the free-to-air figures have only been "reviewed" by KPMG.)

So why the discrepancy?

The answer is each group has based its calculations on different assumptions.

Pay's figures are based on the total number of hours on the anti-siphoning list (ie, every round of every sport), which adds up to about 7000 hours of sport a year. But free TV uses "available TV hours", or the number of hours it says the sports rights holders allow the free-to-air networks to broadcast, which in 2000 amounted to 1726.5 hours (excluding highlights and analytical packages).

CTVA chief executive Julie Flynn says they have never used all the hours on the list when making their calculations.

"There may be 6000 hours of tennis, but unless you can devote 16 channels to the 16 rounds we don't believe you can use it as a reasonable figure," she says. "It has to pass a fair dinkum test at some stage."

But pay TV says it's ridiculous to use "available hours", as any meaningful analysis must cover the list in its entirety.

Flynn says golf tournaments, for example, only allow the last nine holes to be broadcast.

But Fox Sports' chief operating officer Jon Marquard says that only relates to the US Masters, and it repealed that restriction two years ago. "You are only limited at the end of the day by the cost [of broadcasting more hours], but this issue goes to the point of why is every single match protected?" he says.

And Foxtel spokesman Mark Furness says each of the 31 matches of this year's National Soccer League are on the list, but Seven says it will only cover the Grand Final. "But on CTVA's analysis, they would claim the sport is being covered by the open [free] broadcasters even though 97 per cent of the matches are not being telecast at all," he says.

So if CTVA argues it shouldn't include all the hours on the list in its calculations, doesn't that mean the list should be reduced?

That question was put to John McAlpine, who argued strenuously against the idea. "With a sporting event that we have paid a lot of money for, we are not going to allow Fox to come and pick and choose what we don't touch," he says.

But what about less interesting matches, say, occurring before the quarter-final stage? No, again.

"It goes back to a normal commercial arrangement," McAlpine says. "At the end of the day every single deal that comes on the table, there is room for pay in that mix, but there is no room for exclusive coverage on pay TV."

The existing anti-siphoning list expires in 2005, and CTVA has called on the Government to extend it a further 10 years "as a matter of urgency".

But Murdoch reaffirmed pay TV's desire to move to a dual rights system instead, where free and pay-TV groups bid separately for the rights they need without excluding each other. "The European approach of a dual rights system would, within a regulatory context in this jurisdiction, appear to be the most rational way forward," he says.

He says a new regime is needed to recognise that, "more sport and more live sport is available in the subscription sector than anywhere else".

But the free-to-airs believe the real motive of pay TV is to gain more "exclusive" sports rights.

"The debate is about getting exclusivity and they want that because it drives subscription take-up," Flynn says. "Sport is the battering ram for pay TV."

But Foxtel's Mark Furness says that is "a furphy put up by them to try and frighten the Australian population". "We want a dual rights system where we acquire the subscription TV rights and they can have the open broadcast rights, but neither of us could hoard any rights," he says.

"In the US and New Zealand, where there is no anti-siphoning, the big events go to the open broadcasters because they have the large advertising revenues with which to bargain with the rights holders.

"We could never compete against that."

But McAlpine says Ten's ratings, and therefore its advertising dollars, would fall if the same picture was seen on free and pay TV. "So it naturally flows that we can't afford to pay the same for rights as the subscription model can," he says.

That would mean more exclusive sport would move to pay TV, he says. And McAlpine did not believe that a dual rights system would make the rights of free TV to big sports any cheaper.

Viaccess fights back piracy

From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html

French satellite platform TPS has just carried out a major anti-piracy sweep with a new twist, catching up with those using pirate cards to override the Viaccess conditional access system and get full access to the platform while only paying a basic subscription.

TPS says the move has completely blocked the terminals in which a pirate card had been inserted recently. An error message on the screen invites the viewer to call the TPS call center on a premium rate number. TPS has also instructed all its distributors not to swap out any terminals that have been blocked in this way. When the number is called the viewer is identified and the subscription details checked. He is then given a code to enter to unblock the terminal. The code is specific to each subscriber. TPS keeps a list of the subscribers involved so will be able to keep track of any who try to renew the procedure several times. It has also knocked out all the 'lost' or 'stolen' terminals - mainly rental terminals taken from supermarkets using a false address.

A few weeks earlier Viaccess carried out a trial of this approach on certain networks of cable operator Noos, which also uses the same access control system and similar terminals (albeit in a cable version) to TPS.

This method has the advantage of curbing piracy without going to the expense of a full card swap out.

TV station keeps cool about porn signal

From http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79&art_id=vn20030325054159115C547267&set_id=1

The owners of South Africa's first adult entertainment satellite television channel are taking the name of the company to heart and aren't all that bothered by the authorities' attempts to close them down.

Don't Panic TV, which had broadcast sexually explicit films 24 hours a day for four months, said they had not contravened local broadcast laws, although the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa clearly disagreed.

Icasa said Don't Panic was contravening South African laws because it did not have a licence to broadcast. But the company said it did not require a licence because it merely relayed a signal and did not broadcast it.

'I would not have invested millions in the venture'

Representatives of the company met Icasa officials last week but were unable to resolve a dispute over the interpretation of South African broadcast legislation.

Don't Panic South Africa relays the station signal from Italy via Britain to Southern African viewers' home dishes by means of the Panamsat 7 satellite.

Local viewers need only to buy Don't Panic smart cards to access the channel.

Stanley Mamaregane, senior manager of licensing, monitoring and complaints at Icasa, said: "We stated our position to Don't Panic during the meeting, and they will receive it in writing during the week."

George Horn, the owner of the South African distribution rights, said: "I would not have invested millions in the venture if it were illegal and faced closure."

Sahara Hindi news channel from March 28

From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=41482113

MUMBAI: Sahara India will launch its 24-hour Hindi news channel, Sahara Samay, on Friday along with 31 city-centric Hindi regional news channels.

The test run of Sahara Samay news channels has been on for last two weeks, Sahara Media & Entertainment head Sumit Roy said in a release here on Wednesday.

Initially, the company would launch Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh to cover six cities while other such channels would be launched in next four months, he added

Preparations begin for INSAT-3A launch

New Delhi,Wednesday, March 26, 2003: Preparations for the launch of Indian telecommunications satellite INSAT-3A have begun at the the Kourou Spaceport in French Guyana.

Space engineers have begun moving the launch vehicle to the final assembly building, satellite launch agency Arianespace announced today.

The Ariane-5 launcher will liftoff with a dual payload of INSAT-3A and Galaxy-XII of PanAmsat early next month, it said.
Of the five satellites planned under INSAT-3 series, INSAT-3B and INSAT-3C were launched earlier.

Ariane-5 launched INSAT-3B in March 2000, while INSAT-3C was put in orbit by Ariane-4 in January last year.

INSAT-3A has several communication transponders in C-band, extended C-band and Ku-band.

The satellite also carries meteorological instruments comprising a very high resolution radiometer, CCD camera, data relay transponder, apart from search and rescue payloads.

India defines rules for TV satellites

From http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2003/03/26/51409-ap.html

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Media baron Rupert Murdoch's Star TV will be able to use Indian satellite facilities to provide live coverage on its new 24-hour news channel only if it gives up its majority stake in the channel, officials said Wednesday.

The government said new foreign ownership rules, approved by Cabinet last week, stipulate that foreign companies can't hold more than 26 per cent equity in a channel that has a satellite uplink from India.

The head of the news channel and a majority of the members on its board must be resident Indians, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced.

Hong Kong-based Star's fully owned Indian subsidiary plans to launch a 24-hour news program April 1. Uplinking from India enables any news channel to offer live coverage of events, which is crucial for staying in competition.

But Star will either have to set up a new company, allowing its majority stake to be vested with Indians, or forgo live coverage. It can still launch the channel by electronically shipping its programs to Hong Kong and beaming them through satellite from there, but that might cause Star to lag behind Indian channels on breaking news.

Star officials in India could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

In the past, the government did not have a clear policy on foreign ownership of television channels.

In 2000, it allowed foreign television companies to uplink from India after obtaining permission from the government. But, no company had applied to uplink a news channel, until Star did a few months ago.

The government said its decision on restricting foreign ownership of television news channels in India was justified because such channels can influence opinion.

Insat 2E 83E 3525 V "Occasional ICC feed"s on , PIDs 449/450.
Insat 2E 83E 3790 V "AIR" has started Fta, APIDs 1212.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3685 H "Indiavision" has started regular transmissions on , Fta, SR 6830, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "Daystar TV has again replaced TCT",Fta, PIDs 769/770.